


To Grow Old and Rejoice

by baltshake



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Future, Engagement, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-19 05:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baltshake/pseuds/baltshake
Summary: "SOLDIERs were people who used to be normal but got changed into monsters. They were stronger and faster than anyone else. They could see in the dark, fly, and always knew when a battle was happening. The only person who could control the SOLDIERs was the old Shinra so they used them to fight more battles and control more people. They used them to guard the old reactors and suck the life out of the planet. But Shinra wanted more power so they created the most terrible SOLDIER of all.""What was his name?""Sephiroth. No one was as strong as him or fought as many battles. He could destroy armies on his own and never felt tired or hungry. He was more monster than man. Some say he's still out there, waiting for a new battle..."





	1. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad SOLDIER?

"You two better be in bed by the time I count to ten or else the SOLDIERs will get you!"

The girls squealed as they heard this and raced to their room. Laughing, they turned off the lights and dove under the covers, muffling their noises in their blankets and stuffed animals. When the door opened, the youngest was still giggling while the eldest held her breath but laughed anyway when her sides were tickled.

"Mama, stop!"

Grinning, the woman pulled her hands back and rolled her eyes affectionately when the youngest crawled into her sister's bed. Even if they didn't share a drop of blood between them, they were giving her the same look. She knew what that meant.

"Why are SOLDIERs scary, mama?"

"Hm, haven't that started teaching you about them in school?"

"Nuh-uh! We haven't talked about them at all."

She sighed but was still smiling and laid down beside the girls. Looking up at the ceiling, she traced accidental constellations in the stuck on glowing stars and considered.

"SOLDIERs were people who used to be normal but got changed into monsters. They were stronger and faster than anyone else. They could see in the dark, fly, and always knew when a battle was happening. The only person who could control the SOLDIERs was the old Shinra so they used them to fight more battles and control more people. They used them to guard the old reactors and suck the life out of the planet. But Shinra wanted more power so they created the most terrible SOLDIER of all."

"What was his name?"

"Sephiroth. No one was as strong as him or fought as many battles. He could destroy armies on his own and never felt tired or hungry. He was more monster than man. Some say he's still out there, waiting for a new battle..."

She slipped her arm around in the dark and tapped the back of her eldest's head, chuckling when she shrieked and flailed.

"Mama, you're mean! I'm not scared of any SOLDIER!"

Grinning, she wrapped her arm around them both and said, "I can believe that. How about a different story instead?"

\- - -

Angeal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was going to be a long day. It wasn't even noon and his kitchen was already half destroyed with pots and bowls strewn about in varying stages of filth. He didn't want to know. He wasn't going to get involved.

"It tastes burnt."

"That's what you said about the last two. I'm beginning to think your taste buds have gone bad."

"Or maybe you're just not meant for cooking."

Angeal decided to make his presence known then by walking into the living room. Sitting on the couch was Sephiroth, his posture perfect but his eyes covered by a mask. He recognized it as the one Genesis used whenever they were flying somewhere. In front of Sephiroth were arranged five bowls with different textured...somethings in them. It might have been food in a past life but that was a distant dream from their current status.

Sitting on the couch next to Sephiroth was Genesis holding a spoon and looking vaguely inclined to shove it up his friend's nose. Well at least that looked familiar.

"What are you two doing?" Angeal asked, trying to keep the disapproving parent tone out of his voice. The others teased him enough about it.

"Angeal, welcome home," Genesis said and his face transformed into a beautiful smile. It would have been even more so if he wasn't pressing a spoon to Sephiroth's stubbornly closed mouth. "I'm having Sephiroth help me with an experiment. I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"If by experiment you mean poison tester then-mmph!"

Genesis had acted lightning fast and shoved the spoon into Sephiroth's mouth when he made the mistake of speaking. His grin was positively malicious as he watched Sephiroth's face twist in unhappy disgust.

"Couldn't you have done this at your own home?" Angeal asked, feeling like they were getting a bit off track. "Without making a mess of mine?"

Genesis waved a dismissive hand at this and delicately pinched Sephiroth's nose to make it so he had to swallow or suffocate. Judging by his furrowed brows, he seemed to be seriously considering the latter.

"Your kitchen is better equipped than mine. I fully intend to take responsibility and clean. Really, Angeal, I don't like a mess."

Angeal decided not to comment on that last point and instead moved over to look into the bowls. While they were different colors, he honestly couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Two had the consistency of thick paint and one seemed to be hardening into a concrete solution. His poor bowls.

"What did you make?" he asked and looked back over. "Genesis, let go of his nose before he passes out."

Sephiroth's eyebrows had started to twitch with a bit of discomfort and he took a deep breath through his nose when it was released. The spoon hadn't moved from his mouth and Angeal got the impression that he didn't want to accidentally swallow whatever he was being forced fed.

"You as well, Angeal? I thought I'd been teaching you so well to recognize the finer things in life." Genesis sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "It's chocolate," he said in a way that clearly meant he'd lost faith in Angeal's senses. "Of course."

"Of course," Angeal repeated despite thinking how difficult it would be to have any of them pass through a person's body without causing lasting damage. "My mistake."

Sephiroth had seemingly had enough and so plucked the spoon out of his mouth to set back on the table. His expression was that of repressed pain and he smoothly took off the makeshift blindfold. "Angeal's here now. Why not make him your taste tester?"

Genesis clicked his tongue to his teeth and raised his eyes to the ceiling as though asking whoever watching him why he'd been cursed with such friends. "You already know the answer to that. Now put the mask back on. You still have two other flavors to try."

This was too much for even Sephiroth to handle and he quickly got to his feet. Pulling his hair from its elegant ponytail, he shook it out and passed Angeal. As he did so, he rested a sympathetic hand on his shoulder before heading out the door without another word.

"Useless!" Genesis made a disagreeable noise and looked down at the bowls moodily. "I suppose I'll have to find someone else to finish the job. Does your son still eat everything?"

Angeal was long past the point of arguing about the legality of him being Zack's father and so shrugged. "He and Cloud are out on a job. It might not be as...fresh when they come back."

Sighing heavily, Genesis nodded and started to stack the bowls. True to his word, he was going to clean up after himself. While he was once content to let others do so for him, he wouldn't abuse Angeal's desire for order. This time at least.

Still, that desire overpowered Angeal and he ended up following Genesis to the kitchen to scrape half hard globs into the trash. "Why chocolate? It's not like you to try and make something by hand."

"I felt like it," Genesis said flippantly and turned the water on hot. After considering a moment, he took up a sponge and started to scrub. "The recipe indicated that there was a chocolate for every palate. I was simply trying to find the one that fit best."

"Oh? Fit for what?"

"Not a what, Angeal. A who."

That was a bit of a surprise. Genesis’s usual style was throwing expensive presents at unexpected recipients. What he wanted, he bought or paid for someone else to create. "Who was it for?"

The sigh Genesis gave was equal parts annoyed and amused. He gave Angeal a significant look and when that only prompted a thoughtful frown, he rolled his eyes. "If it's not obvious to you after this long, there's no help for you at all."

Angeal's frown deepened. He looked at the mess then to Genesis who had his sleeves rolled up and hands covered in suds. There were some chocolate stains on the red button up that he hadn't bothered to clean or change into a fresh shirt.

Something clicked and he blinked. That led to a chuckle and he leaned over, kissing Genesis's temple. "Thank you. It's the thought that counts."

The huff he got spoke a thousand words and most of them were not unkind. "Chocolate would be better than just the thought of it."

"I think I'll have to disagree with you this time."

“There’s no accounting for taste.”


	2. Laugh Lines Over Scar Tissue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s great! How about we both are SOLDIERs? No one will be able to stop us!”
> 
> She turned to the rest of their friends and her grin turned sinister as she looked at them. “You better work hard to protect your planet, heroes. We’ll gobble up your Lifestream and your babies too!”
> 
> Laughing along with the rest of their friends, he stepped forward to stand at her side and grinned just as menacingly. “We’ll burn your villages and destroy everything in our path. That’s what it means to be a SOLDIER!”
> 
> “No mercy, no surrender!”

“Why do I always have to play the SOLDIER?”

Standing in the middle of the street, the boy was glaring hard at his friends as they all looked amongst each other for an answer. It wasn’t that they disliked their other friend and so made him play the villainous role. It just tended to happen that way.

The leader of the pack extracted herself from the group and stood in front, her arms folded across her chest. “You just give the best speeches,” she said and gave him a big grin. “I really feel like following you into battle when you talk! Even when it’s about death and stuff.”

Flushing at this, the boy’s scowl lessened as he shuffled his feet. “It’s just ‘cause my parents teach history. That’s how I know all these things.” He’d listened to their lectures often enough at the dinner table and textbooks tended to be his bedtime stories. He didn’t mind and thought it was interesting. His friends did too which was why they played the best games ever.

“It’s great! How about we both are SOLDIERs? No one will be able to stop us!”

She turned to the rest of their friends and her grin turned sinister as she looked at them. “You better work hard to protect your planet, heroes. We’ll gobble up your Lifestream and your babies too!”

Laughing along with the rest of their friends, he stepped forward to stand at her side and grinned just as menacingly. “We’ll burn your villages and destroy everything in our path. That’s what it means to be a SOLDIER!”

“No mercy, no surrender!”

Another girl from the group stepped forward and put her hands proudly on her hips. “We won’t lose to the likes of you!” she declared and the three behind her cheered. “Heroes never give up. With our power, we’ll stop you no matter how hard you try to hurt the planet!”

“Hey you kids, get out of the road!” a driver called and honked her horn, causing the group to scatter with yelps and cries to let her drive by.

After the car passed, the six met in the middle of the street again to watch after it. “Was that a meteorite?” one of the children asked after a moment.

“And there’s a lot more where that came from!” the boy cried and threw out his arms, laughing evilly. “I’ll summon up even more meteorites and your planet will be doomed!”

“No way! Don’t let the SOLDIERs win!”

\- - -

“Cloud sent me a mail.”

“That’s rare.” Zack said and looked over from where he was dividing up a mass of clothing into two piles. He wasn’t sure how but his fiancé and he had accumulated more clothes than they had room for. With his blessing, Zack had taken on the task of starting to arrange them into things they should keep and things they should give away. He managed to fold up five more shirts before Sephiroth spoke again from where he was sitting on the couch.

“It’s about the Nibel Wolves. Apparently they’re no longer endangered.”

Humming, Zack continued to fold clothes as he thought about why that would be significant. He didn’t really keep track of what creatures were and weren’t endangered. He cared but he’d had a bigger job for awhile with keeping humanity off that list.

“Wait. The Nibel Wolves?” He looked up as it finally registered to him and he gave Sephiroth a big grin. “That’s great! I’m glad to hear it.”

Looking down at his PHS, Sephiroth nodded thoughtfully as he read the text Cloud had copied from the article. It was likely a small one that no one else would have even cared to notice. No one except someone who was looking for it.

“Is it his way of mocking me?” His brow furrowed as he got to the statistics portion. “It was my fault. Maybe he’s still resenting me.” Sephiroth wouldn’t blame him if that was the case. He couldn’t after what he’d put them through – those he knew and the planet as a whole.

“Nah, Cloud wouldn’t do that,” Zack said confidently as he shoved a couple pairs of pants into the give away bag. In a few years, they might fit Denzel or Marlene! “It’s his way of being kind. He wants you to know things are recovering. Going back to how they should be, you know?”

He looked over at his friend again and smiled as he saw him still looking perplexed. “You should tell him thank you. Or maybe throw money at the conservation effort if you’re not already.”

Sephiroth smiled a little at this and pulled up a mail to reply. Zack always knew somehow even if he’d never said a word about it. There had been a lot of generous donations to conservation efforts over the past few years. All anonymous, of course. His name wasn’t one he could use in public anymore. Strangely, he liked that. Having eyes pass over him in the crowd as opposed to him being the center of everything was nice.

Deciding to take a break, Zack hopped up and went to the kitchen for a couple minutes before coming back. He set two glasses of water on the coffee table before settling on the couch too, his legs stuck in Sephiroth’s lap as he leaned his back against the couch arm. “Also tell him he has to be back for dinner tonight or I’m making his portion spicy.”

Snorting quietly at this, Sephiroth was dutiful as he relayed the message and grabbed his glass of water. He decided against dislodging Zack’s feet but watched his toes wiggle as he played around with his own PHS. When it vibrated with another mail, he opened it up and didn’t try to stifle his chuckle as he read it over. “It seems like he knows you just as well as you know him.”

“Oh yeah? What’d he say?”

“See for yourself.”

Zack accepted the PHS over and looked at the mail before letting out a pleased laugh. “Aw man, he got me. Serves me right for trying to be a jerk.”

He handed it back to Sephiroth and started to work on his own water, still smiling against the rim of his glass. Zack looked peaceful in his own home wearing clothing that was neither restrictive or protective in nature. While it was still a tank top and pants, the top portion showed a graphic of a chocobo, moogle, and cactuar all crossing the street single file. The design was cracked and faded, showing it had been worn plenty of times.

“This life suits you,” Sephiroth observed and met Zack’s eyes when he brought them back up. “I don’t remember you being this happy before.”

“There’s a lot to be happy about now,” Zack said and his expression remained at ease. “I’ve got a house and a job I like a lot. I still get to help people and spend time with the people I care about.” He scratched his cheek thoughtfully before shrugging. “It’s not the life I pictured I’d have 11 years ago but I was just a kid then. Things change.”

“You like this better than what you imagined?” Sephiroth didn’t blink as he watched his friend but Zack didn’t seem to mind. Out of everyone else, Zack never really seemed bothered by the way he behaved a bit differently than others would. It was nicer even than anonymity. 

“Yeah. When I was 16, I thought I’d become a hero general and beat up anybody who I thought deserved it. I’d have had your job and you would have thought I was so much cooler than you.”

Zack grinned as he said this and Sephiroth indulged a small smirk. The image was amusing to both of them now as opposed to just him.

“But now things are so much better!” Zack started to list everything off on his fingers and had to set his glass down again. “I’ve got a home that’s really comfortable. I still have a job where I’m helping people and it doesn’t involve invading other countries to beat people up that are just trying to defend themselves. I’ve got way more close friends than I used to. I’m going to marry the best guy on the planet and we’re going to adopt the best kids on the planet and be the best dads on the planet. The Nibel Wolves are off the endangered species list…”

His grin was even wider as he said the last fact and Sephiroth poured some water on his toes, causing Zack to yelp and pull them back to his chest. The cold didn’t really bother him. It didn’t bother either of them but Zack would always react as though it did.

“Here I was going to invite you to dinner but now you’re attacking me in my own home. No Zesty Shrimp Salad Supreme for you!”

Sephiroth rolled his eyes at this and finished off the rest of his water, ignoring Zack’s pouting. “Don’t you have some bags to be stuffing?”

“Don’t you have some bags to be lifting into the back of the truck?” Zack quipped back and poked Sephiroth with his damp clothes. “I didn’t invite you over to freeload off my good looks and delicious food.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, not bothering to hide a lazy stretch and got up. As he did and watched Zack go back to work, he felt his PHS vibrate and opened up the newest mail from Cloud. Looking down at it, he felt something swell in his chest and stood still as he considered it.

Humans were born with hearts and were easily swayed by emotion. Sephiroth wasn’t completely human but he knew that now and wanted to try. He was learning and it felt right. His heart was telling him this was right.

“Hey, General Freeloader! Let’s get things going!”

“Yes, yes,” Sephiroth said and keyed a simple response before reaching for the closest bag. He could be at peace with how things were too.

_‘Thank you, Sephiroth.’_

_‘And you, Cloud. Thank you.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last bit of ideas I have for this right now. I'd love to write about Zack and Cloud adopting or other ex-SOLDIER shenanigans but that'll come way way in the future. Thank you so much for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts! ^7^

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to explore more of the idea I had where SOLDIER didn't exist in the present day except for in stories. I touched on it some in "Paramedics" (you don't have to read it to get the idea here). Also I had to do a bit more fixing so all these goobers ended up living and staying good friends. :D This first chapter was more play than how the near end of the world changed them but it also came to me at midnight last night when I should have been sleeping so I think that's alright. I already have an idea for a second chapter but I'm not sure how much more I'll add onto after that but I had fun while writing! I hope you enjoy reading this and feel free to leave a comment. ^7^


End file.
